Thin-slice manufacturing device and thin-slice manufacturing method

Abstract

A thin-slice manufacturing device is a thin-slice manufacturing device for cutting an embedding block in which a biological sample is embedded by paraffin using a cutting blade relatively moved with respect to the embedding block along a virtual plane to cut out thin slices, the thin-slice manufacturing device includes a vertical illumination part configured to radiate light to the embedding block, and an inclination estimation part configured to detect a boundary line between a cutting surface cut along the virtual plane and a non-cutting surface based on reflection of light generated by the light radiated to the embedding block by the vertical illumination part, and estimate inclination information showing information related to inclination of the embedding block based on the detected boundary line.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A thin-slice manufacturing device for cutting an embedding block in which a sample is embedded by an embedding agent by using a cutting blade relatively moved with respect to the embedding block along a virtual plane to cut out thin slices, the thin-slice manufacturing device comprising:
 a radiation part configured to radiate light to the embedding block; and 
 an estimation part configured to detect a boundary line between a cutting surface and a non-cutting surface formed by cutting the embedding block along the virtual plane based on reflection of light generated by the light radiated to the embedding block from the radiation part, and configured to estimate inclination information regarding an inclination of the embedding block based on the detected boundary line, 
 wherein the inclination information comprises a direction of the inclination of the embedding block and a degree of inclination of the embedding block, 
 the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on a normal vector of the boundary line, and simultaneously, estimates the degree of inclination based on a movement amount of the boundary line and a predetermined amount when the virtual plane is moved by the predetermined amount in a direction perpendicular to the virtual plane in order to cut the embedding block, 
 the radiation part switches and radiates vertical illumination light and diffuse light to the embedding block, 
 the estimation part detects the boundary line based on reflection of the vertical illumination light, 
 the normal vector of the boundary line is a vector in a normal direction of the boundary line in which a magnitude thereof is set as a length until to an outline of a sample obtained based on radiation of the diffuse light, and 
 the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on the vector in the normal direction of the boundary line in which the magnitude thereof is set as the length until to the outline of the sample. 
 
     
     
       2. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the movement amount of the boundary line is a movement amount in a direction of the normal vector. 
 
     
     
       3. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the normal vector of the boundary line is an average normal vector, and 
 the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on the average normal vector. 
 
     
     
       4. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the normal vector of the boundary line is a vector having a largest magnitude among a vector in a normal direction of the boundary line having the movement amount of the boundary line as a magnitude, and 
 the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on the vector having the largest magnitude. 
 
     
     
       5. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on the vector having a largest magnitude among the vector in the normal direction of the boundary line in which a magnitude thereof is set as the length until to the outline of the sample. 
 
     
     
       6. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on an average vector in the normal direction of the boundary line in which a magnitude thereof is set as the length until to the outline of the sample. 
 
     
     
       7. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a compensation part configured to compensate the inclination of the embedding block so that a predetermined cross section of the embedding block and the virtual plane are parallel to each other based on the inclination information estimated by the estimation part. 
 
     
     
       8. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the boundary line comprises a boundary line between a cutting surface and a non-cutting surface of the embedding agent, 
 the predetermined cross section of the embedding block comprises a roughly cut surface showing a predetermined cutting surface on which a rough cutting, which previously cuts a surface of the predetermined cross section of the embedding block to the predetermined cutting surface, is performed, and 
 the compensation part compensates the inclination of the embedding block so that the roughly cut surface and the virtual plane are parallel to each other based on the inclination information. 
 
     
     
       9. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 7 ,
 wherein the boundary line comprises a boundary line between a cutting surface and a non-cutting surface of the sample, 
 the predetermined cross section of the embedding block comprises a predetermined cross section of the sample, and 
 the compensation part compensates the inclination of the embedding block so that the predetermined cross section of the sample and the virtual plane are parallel to each other based on the inclination information. 
 
     
     
       10. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 8 ,
 wherein the boundary line comprises a boundary line between a cutting surface and a non-cutting surface of the sample, 
 the predetermined cross section of the embedding block comprises a predetermined cross section of the sample, and 
 the compensation part compensates the inclination of the embedding block so that the roughly cut surface and the virtual plane are parallel to each other based on the inclination information when the rough cutting is performed on the embedding block, and 
 compensates the inclination of the embedding block so that the predetermined cross section of the sample and the virtual plane are parallel to each other based on the inclination information when the rough cutting is not performed on the embedding block. 
 
     
     
       11. The thin-slice manufacturing device according to  claim 7 , comprising:
 an inclination angle change part configured to change an inclination of a support section configured to fix the embedding block; and 
 an imaging part configured to image an image of the embedding block by reflection of the light in a state in which the light is radiated from the radiation part, 
 wherein the estimation part detects the boundary line based on the image imaged by the imaging part and estimates the inclination information based on the detected boundary line, and 
 the compensation part changes the inclination of the support section using the inclination angle change part based on the inclination information. 
 
     
     
       12. A thin-slice manufacturing method of cutting an embedding block in which a sample is embedded by an embedding agent by using a cutting blade relatively moving with respect to the embedding block along a virtual plane in order to cut out thin slices, the thin-slice manufacturing method comprising:
 a radiation step of radiating light to the embedding block by a radiation part; and 
 an estimation step of detecting a boundary line between a cutting surface cut along the virtual plane and a non-cutting surface based on reflection of light generated by the light radiated to the embedding block in the radiation step by an estimation part, and estimating inclination information regarding inclination of the embedding block based on the detected boundary line, 
 wherein the inclination information comprises a direction of the inclination of the embedding block and a degree of inclination of the embedding block, 
 in the estimation step, the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on a normal vector of the boundary line, and simultaneously, estimates the degree of inclination based on a movement amount of the boundary line and a predetermined amount when the virtual plane is moved by the predetermined amount in a direction perpendicular to the virtual plane in order to cut the embedding block, 
 in the radiation step, the radiation part switches and radiates vertical illumination light and diffuse light to the embedding block, 
 in the estimation step, the estimation part detects the boundary line based on reflection of the vertical illumination light, 
 the normal vector of the boundary line is a vector in a normal direction of the boundary line in which a magnitude thereof is set as a length until to an outline of a sample obtained based on radiation of the diffuse light, and 
 in the estimation step, the estimation part estimates the direction of the inclination based on the vector in the normal direction of the boundary line in which the magnitude thereof is set as the length until to the outline of the sample.